Mike
Skinner went into Atlanta Motor Speedway tied with Jack Sprague
for the Craftsman Truck Series points lead. After he recorded
his second consecutive victory he raced away in sole possession
of first place. Skinner spent most of the 130-lap race swapping
the lead with Todd Bodine but when AJ Allmendinger crashed with
less than 15 laps to go, it was Cup Series regular Clint Bowyer
who showed the way. On the final restart, Skinner latched tight
onto Bowyer’s back bumper and wasted little time as bumped
the leader and made the winning pass.
Bodine followed Skinner to take over the runner up position
and then chased the No. 5 Toyota to the checkers.

Skinner started on the pole and staying in the lead pack allowed
him to avoid the numerous incidents that brought out the caution
flag a record nine times. The 0.700-second margin of victory
also set a record for the widest ever in six series events at
the 1.5-mile speedway. “I think the 30 (Bodine) was the
best truck tonight,” noted Skinner who posted his 21st
career victory. “We were a little better on the short
runs so when those cautions kept coming out, it didn’t
bother me. I knew I had to get a really, really good restart
and Clint (Bowyer) had been mirror driving me pretty hard all
night but I wasn’t going to wreck him to win this race.”

Bodine led 39 laps, second only to Skinner’s 67, and went
on to score his third consecutive top 10 finish to start the
season. It was that final caution of the race that he could
have done without. “Our trucks were equal on the short
run,” said Bodine. “But ours was definitely better
on the long run.”

Third place Danny Crafton had to come from behind after his
Chevrolet received damage in a multi-car accident on the race’s
initial start. “We did pass a lot of trucks tonight,”
laughed Crafton. “We didn’t have anything for the
top two trucks but we did have a third place truck. I’m
really happy with our finish but not satisfied because we aren’t
out there in Victory Lane where Mike Skinner is. That is when
I will be satisfied is when we are there.”

Rick Crawford finished fourth in his 250th career start while
Clint Bowyer faded at the end but salvaged a fifth place finish.
“It’s kinda hard to go when your rear wheels are
off the ground,” said Boywer. “(Skinner) had the
rear tires off the ground. He did what he had to do. It’s
all good.” Skinner took the lead in the driver standings
by 69 over Todd Bodine who moved into second.

The Craftsman Truck Series will take next weekend off to prepare
for the season’s first short track event at Martinsville
Speedway on March 31.